Fresh Air Weekend: Maya Rudolph, William Shatner

In his solo show, Shatner shares stories about his childhood, his father, and his lengthy acting career.

Joan Marcus

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Originally published on March 10, 2012 9:44 am

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors, and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

Maya Rudolph: The Fresh Air Interview The comedian spent seven seasons on Saturday Night Live and went on to star in the raunchy comedy Bridesmaids. Now she's exploring what's funny about parenting in the new movie Friends with Kids and the TV series Up All Night.

In 'Shatner's World,' Stories About Acting, Loss, Loss In his new one-man show, William Shatner talks about his childhood growing up in Montreal — and the ups and downs of creating iconic characters, from starship captain James T. Kirk to lawyer Denny Crane.

Bruce Springsteen: A Universal, Original 'Wrecking Ball' Springsteen told Rolling Stone that Wrecking Ball is "as direct a record as I ever made." It's also one of his most stylistically diverse, including elements of gospel and hip-hop as well as rock and the blues. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the music "testifies to a bottomless ingenuity, invention and exhilaration."